Coworking Community Makes Key Appointments to Fuel Growth

Coworking Community Makes Key Appointments to Fuel Growth

Auckland, July 11, 2016 BizDojo, New Zealand’s only national coworking community, has appointed highprofile entrepreneur Tim Norton as Chairman of its board as it embarks on a rapid growth phase across the country.

Founder of cloud video production company 90 Seconds, Tim will support BizDojo’s expansion into Christchurch in September and across further sites in Auckland over the next year.

BizDojo has also fuelled its growth with the appointment of Lachlan Sloan as Chief Operating Officer. Lachlan was a founding member of Compass Offices, which is Hong Kong’s largest serviced office provider and has a network of 43 offices in locations including Australia, Japan, South Korea, Japan, the Philippines and Singapore.

Kiwiowned BizDojo was the first coworking space in New Zealand when it launched in 2009. It offers coworking and business incubator services to its diverse community of startups, freelancers and small businesses.

The industry pioneer has seen a massive increase in demand as the coworking trend accelerates in New Zealand and globally. BizDojo’s Auckland collaborative community now has 148 people across 50 businesses, a growth rate of 180% over the past year, and its Wellington community has 163 people from 83 businesses, a growth rate of 190%.

BizDojo Christchurch will open on September 1 with space for 150 residents, ranging from single operators to teams of up to 25.

Tim Norton was prompted to join the BizDojo team by his firsthand experience of the collaborative community. Longtime BizDojo resident 90 Seconds recently secured an $11 million investment led by one of the world’s top venture capital firms, Sequoia Capital.

“I’ve built 90 Seconds from barely breaking even a year ago to posting annual sales of about $20 million, with a team of 80 people in seven countries. I used BizDojo as a base from the earliest days to build our business, culture and growth,” says Tim.

Lachlan Sloan returns to New Zealand to take on his BizDojo role after 15 years in Asia. His roles at Compass Offices included Chief Operating Officer, Board Director and, most recently, Vice President of Corporate Development.

“Having come out of a successful services office venture, I could see the market was shifting further toward coworking and I was excited by the vision of the cofounders of BizDojo. With its rich history as one of the first 100 coworking spaces in the world, BizDojo has the authenticity that is so important in a shared economy,” says Lachlan.

BizDojo CEO Jonah Merchant says the team is passionate about supporting Kiwi startups to turn their ideas into successful companies.

ENDS

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